Transforming Cape Breton Highlands and Keltic Lodge

Rick Young

Rick Young

In a stripped-down form, this is a unique, albeit, complex business story. It’s got moving parts galore but it’s good. It’s real good.

It’s about two iconic Cape Breton Island landmarks, one a golf course, Cape Breton Highlands Links, the other a hotel, Keltic Lodge. It’s about how both are, and forever will be, joined at the hip, bound by proximity but also by equal parts commerce, tradition and caché.

It’s about an Ontario-based operator of semi-private and public golf facilities, GolfNorth, being awarded a 42-year lease by Parks Canada in April 2015 not only to operate Highlands Links but also, without a lick of experience in the hotel management business, Keltic Lodge, owned by the provincial government and maintained through a Memorandum of Agreement with Parks Canada. To the casual onlooker it might have been hard to tell the difference anyway. Previous operator New Castle Hotels didn’t look like it had much experience either. It appeared to have even less in the golf business. GolfNorth, at least, could be the equivalent of that new coach coming in with a fresh set of eyes.

Then there are the financial ramifications. This story swirls around how a planned $2.3-million investment in Highlands and Keltic Lodge turned into $5.5 million; how a four-year capital expenditures vision got fast-tracked into an 18-month reality, and how that money is restoring a growingly tired resort to national and even international prominence. Golf course included.

Along the way there are several unique subplots, like how GolfNorth has co-existed thus far with Parks Canada, the trust it continues to try to build with the people and town of Ingonish after the Request for Proposal (RFP) for Highlands and Keltic transferred those operations from community (and union) hands to the private Ontario company, and the relationships GolfNorth has had to forge with marketing attaché Golf Cape Breton, the provincial government and, even with Cabot Links, connected two hours away by the majestic Cabot Trail.

Mustn’t forget the principals here either. They are the aforementioned provincial government and Parks Canada; GolfNorth owner Jim Balsillie; GolfNorth CEO Shawn Evans; golf course architect Ian Andrew; and Graham Hudson, the likeable general manager of Cape Breton Highlands Links and (now) Keltic Lodge, who, in my opinion and, at least to this point, is the unsung hero of this entire story.

The Baddeck, N.S.-born Hudson agreed to assume his duel role under one condition: he was in charge. Day-to-day management via GolfNorth’s Conestogo, Ont., headquarters was off limits. At the very least it was subject to arms length.

“We had a pretty good understanding when I took the job,” Hudson explained during a dinner interview. “It was, ‘If you want me to be the guy, I’ll be the guy,’ and I think they respected that very much. They were more about, ‘We’ll give you the support. You tell us what you need and we’ll do it.’ That’s exactly how it’s been.”

Hudson knew what needed to be done. Balsillie was counting on it. The former BlackBerry co-CEO arrived on September 24, 2015 for his first look at the property. It didn’t take him long to put the ball straight into Hudson’s court.

“He wasn’t seven steps out the door of the Highlands clubhouse when he turns to me and says, ‘Graham, I’ve only known you five minutes, but I’m guessing you have a plan.’”

Hudson did. What he described in detail for Balsillie was an elaborate 12-point master plan involving significant upgrades to the hotel property and golf course. Four years would be required to see it through. There was no getting around the cost. It would be significant. In the end it would give both lodge and golf course a fresh makeover. Hudson’s new boss gave him the green light. There would be no budget. Balsillie did have one condition, Hudson said.

“He told me, ‘You said you want to do this over four years. You’ve got 18 months.’”

Work started the next day. Smartly it began with tree removal, something already being done as part of architect Ian Andrew’s master plan at Highlands, but that was also needed around the Lodge and grounds on the peninsula. The trees around both had become way too overgrown.

“He (Balsillie) wasn’t out of his car five minutes and he said, ‘Graham, I don’t know what you think you’re selling here but I’m telling you right now you’re selling views. These trees have to go.’ I knew right then we were going to get along just fine,” said Hudson.

Seemingly on the same page with trees, the next priority was hotel rooms, particularly the ones down from the main lodge at Corson House. Built in 1969, it would appear nary a dime had been spent on them since. Renovations were completed room by room including new upstairs suites.

“This is where we were getting eaten alive on value for money,” Hudson continued. “We were charging a lot of money for those rooms. They were musty and weren’t barely $99 rooms most days so we gutted them. We took those rooms right back to the concrete.”

What was introduced was glass. Lots of it. Three huge windows were installed in the upstairs suites and two windows plus patio doors downstairs.

“That allowed people on the ground floor to actually go out and see the views,” smiled Hudson.

Of those rooms I can say this: I stayed in one. Deliberately I left my curtains open so I could wake up to the view the next morning. Even amid a misty rain it was breathtaking.

Next up was the renovation of Ceilidh Hall. The combination events/wedding reception centre had been essentially replaced by the Arduaine Restaurant across the road because of two things: visuals and atmosphere.

Five small windows was all the view afforded to bride, groom and guests for a function at Ceilidh Hall. It nowhere near served its purpose.

“It didn’t take long for a bride to look at mom and say, ‘Well, this isn’t very nice,’” Hudson said. “Then they’d walk them across the street to the restaurant and say, ‘Yup, we’ll have the wedding here. So they (New Castle) would do these weddings but that meant the restaurant had to be shut down. Last year that restaurant ran for 61 days — 31 of them it was closed to the public. We needed a wedding centre. We need that restaurant to run from the first day we open to the last day we close.”

Like the rooms, the hall was gutted too. Like the rooms, it now features glass, this time 80 feet of it in 10-foot high sections including patio doors. I went for a quick look. Like the rooms, the view is stunning. It provides a memorable environment, quite frankly, for any function.

“Weddings doubled right away. That aspect of the business has gone through the roof. All weddings are outdoors then they go in, cocktails on the deck, dinner inside,” Hudson said. “Right now we’re sold out every Saturday next year already. We’re starting to sell Fridays and Sundays and actually into Thursdays now too.”

In the midst of big changes at Ceilidh Hall was the execution of new accommodation options, particularly for visiting golfers, in other parts of the resort. That included a house on the corner right across the street from the golf course. It went from being Hudson’s residence to Stanley Thompson House, aptly named to honour Highlands’ designer.

“There was too much revenue potential. I was living in it and it was already too much house,” Hudson explained. “I said, I’ll get out and we’ll turn it into two golfer suites. It looks right down No. 1 fairway at Highlands. It’s selling like wildfire.”

Two more on-site buildings that had been housing for supervisors under New Castle were also redone. They were converted into four two-bedroom units. Still to come is the full renovation of a residence currently housing 80 staff. It will be converted into 12 two-bedroom suites overlooking the bay.

Also ongoing and nearing completion are renovations to the bathrooms and air-conditioning in the main Keltic Lodge.

On June 25th local and provincial dignitaries and 150 people showed up for the unveiling of the $5-million renovation. They got a chance to tour the facility, see the changes and hear how GolfNorth isn’t done, that its immediate plans included more investment and perhaps even for cross-country and downhill skiing at Cape Smokey Provincial Park, making Keltic Lodge a full four-season resort.

“I was pretty excited that day,” Hudson said. “To see seven of the 12 things done, to have an open house with a band and self-guided tours, well, you could barely get up the driveway. Jim was there. The people were there. It was big vote of confidence for us.”

Rick Young

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Concerned Guest
October 12, 2016 at 4:17 pm

It takes a team, not just a man, to achieve greatness. If this “unsung hero” forgot to mention the hardworking and dedicated people who have built the reputation of the Highlands Links and the Keltic Lodge, then he may need a lesson or two in humility .